Waning Moon, Waxing Moon
by Ongaku no Usagi
Summary: The final battle between Kurapika and Kuroro.
1. Part 1

Waning Moon, Waxing Moon

By Ongaku no Usagi

Disclaimer: Hunter X Hunter belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro. This applies to all subsequent chapters of "Waning Moon, Waxing Moon".

"Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

Kurapika had seen more than his fair share of pain. The loss of his tribe...the agony of killing another person...besides various sundry physical pains. Yet...now...he would repay the ones responsible for his pain, and the mortification of his tribe. It would not be like the last time. His strategy was perfect; he was relying on no one else but himself and his own strength.

Two hours left until he put his plan into action. Sitting on the low bed in the hotel room he had rented, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, acquiring and storing Nen, meditating on his task ahead. Concentration filled all his body and mind. He was a being bent on one goal, flooded with his desire.

Images flitted through his memory; he brought them out, one by one, thought about them each carefully, and then put them from his mind. The first: red on black, silver chain tangled around the blade of a katana. The second: the monster with the bullets of Nen that yet were conquered by a stronger defense. The third and fourth: the Chinese fire defeated, he himself could not fathom how, along with the sheer physical martial force. And the fifth...he had almost died of silver thread, so fast! So sudden! It had snaked around him, til he could not breathe. Yet...that, too...

He closed his eyes as he remembered her scream of pain as he mercilessly thrust the Judgement Chain through her heart.

Those were the five left who had been responsible in the massacre. He had little grudge against those who had joined afterwards; he did not desire to kill more.

Yet...there was one more. Him. The Head.

Kurapika stood up, the springs of the bed yawning as he did so.

He was fully confident. He had devoted the last five years since the Hunter's Exam to this very purpose. After all, his Nen had increased after each success, whether it be collecting the eyes or purging the legs.

He strode toward the door.

Kuroro sensed the Chain User's presence while he was yet closing and locking his hotel room door.

He closed his eyes again, concentrating.

This battle...might be tough. Even though he was sure his skills surpassed that of the Chain User's, he knew his determination did not. There were times when not being effected by death were troublesome.

There was also...he had heard of the deaths of Nobunaga, Franklin, Feitan, Phinks and Machi. The last he felt most keenly. Though he had been closer to Pakunoda while she was alive, of late Machi and he had bonded, more mentally than physically, although of course he had always known the ladies of his group quite well. That sort of thing was not governed by feelings, especially not among the Spiders. It was need-based, though there was always payment for services in one form or another. But he had actually felt something more than fellowship with Machi, and now he was...almost sad.

In a way, it wasn't worth it to go on. But because it would be disgraceful to the memories of his band, he was going to fight. If he succeeded, he would carry on. If not...he wouldn't feel any regret. That would be his last victory over the Chain User.

He lifted his head as he heard footsteps, coming closer. He was in the original building the Spiders had used for the Yorkshin incident. He thought it was a little poetic.

The irony was not lost on Kurapika, either. Wet, dark halls, and broken walls; _ploosh, ploosh_, moisture dampening his tribal shoes as he trod in the foul puddles. The sensation of year-old mold stuck in his nostrils like thistles into fingertips. He grimaced, but steadied his nerves, controlling himself until he no longer was affected by it.

He gritted his teeth and clenched a fist until it shook. This...this was it. The final faceoff. He licked his lips in anticipation, more than anxiety.

"You came at last, Chain User."

He halted, the soggy sounds of his footsteps shifting to a stop as he assumed a fighting stance and looked around warily. The voice, mocking, musing, echoed from all corners of the room. Kuroro had chosen his place well. Kurapika immediately let out his Dowsing Chain, watching it from his perephrial vision as he continued to look for the source of that calm, cold voice.

"Did you doubt it?" he asked steadily, noticing the sway of the chain to his back and right. "Did you doubt that I would find you, murderer, and bring about just due?"

Pale laughter, sticky laughter, like that of a black widow with its prey twitching in its web. "Murderer? I'm not the only one in this room, you know."

Kurapika has mentally prepared himself for such comments. "A life for a life, Kuroro. And you have taken many more lives than you can repay."

_The boy has grown up_, Kuroro realized. _He has come to terms with 'the end justifies the means' logic._ He frowned. _This might be even harder than I anticipated._

He left no trace of uneasiness in his voice as he replied. "I never thought you would come down to killer's thought processes, Chain User," he said.

Kurapika smiled wryly. "There is no point to looking back over done misdeeds," he says. "One can only move forward. Therefore," he took a deep breath and turned around, not leaving any opening in his stance as he faced the Head of the Spiders, crouching in the dark, "prepare yourself, Kuroro. I have not looked back."

Kuroro sighed wearily as he stood up. A gossamer strand of moonlight highlighted his hair as it caught glint through the window. "Very well then. Prepare yourself, too. There will be no second chances."

With that, the two lunged at each other


	2. Part 2

Kuroro caught his breath as the Chain User shoved all his weight off his back leg and launched himself at him. He was fast...much faster. There was no flaw in his movement.

They met in air, Kuroro with a blade conjured from his black book, Kurapika with his chains. The Kurata gasped in surprise as the blade bent in mid air to avoid the chain he shot at his opponent, and then curved back around to aim itself at him. Furthermore, he noticed that it was growing and shrinking at its master's will. He jumped to the side just in time to avoid the edge. It sliced harmlessly through part of his pants. As it snaked its way back to him, he jumped up and, without warning, landed right on the tip of the blade. As he had expected, the movement stopped with a quiver. He launched his Dowsing chain at Kuroro's hand; it twisted around the hilt and wrested it from the man's grasp, the blade disappearing into thin air as he did so.

All in the blink of an eye. Kurapika's breathing had not even escalated with the effort.

The two men regarded each other for a minute. "Well," said Kuroro with an even, undisturbed tone, "so much for the warmup."

He pulled out his book, jumping out of the way without even a glance as Kurapika flung his hooked chain at him. Kurapika hadn't really expected it to work, of course. He was just keeping his opponent on his feet. Opportunities would come later.

"Hmm, what about this one?" Kuroro pondered, and out of thin air, a silvery-blue light appeared, slender as a flower and about the length of his hand. Kuroro lifted a single finger and pointed toward Kurapika.

The light charged at an incredible speed toward the younger man. He stood his ground until the last minute, and then pushed a concentrated amount of Kou towards it just before it almost pierced his body. The light bounded off of the Kou and flew back to Kuroro, who dodged it with ease. It hit the wall behind and disappeared. A semi-second later, the wall became bright-hot and shattered into molten pieces.

Neither man moved a muscle, moving Kou as necessary to guard from the slivers. The moonlight filled the room with creepy blue light; Kuroro framed in black against the bright sky.

Both had already set up parries. Kurapika attacked first, shooting his Judgement Chain and Chain Jail simulaneously at Kuroro. Kuroro dodged them, but lost his footing and fell backwards down the building, where he landed on his feet, catlike, at the bottom. Kurapika threw his Dowsing Chain at the tree branch immediately outside and swung down to meet the other man.

They grappled instantly upon contact, using Nen for strength of blows and counterattacks, not bothering to pull out their weapons. When it was clear that the Kurata had the upper hand, Kuroro shoved him away with superhuman strength and pulled out his book, avoiding the obligatory attack.

Kurapika instantly put himself on guard. Thus, when the air around Kuroro began to bubble and distort in a wave-pattern, he did not feel surprised at the very low, dull drone of sound that surrounded him, bursting the air like the split effect of lightening.

He was expecting the enormous thunder clap before it happened. Using his emission techniques inherent in the "Emperor Time" ability he had mastered, he pushed the Nen cloud away just as it forced the air back together with an enormous clap.

The tree he was standing next to disintegrated into bits of bark and leaves, caught in full by the attack. Kurapika dodged back as the top of the tree, left standing on its own in midair, crashed to the ground.

The moonlight, no longer obstructed by the branches, shone out painfully bright, as a sheet of snow on all surfaces.

"You know," said Kuroro casually, as if they were having tea together instead locked in a death-battle, "there's a very beautiful moon out tonight."

"I noticed," said Kurapika, not releasing his guard for even an instant. Kuroro sighed.

"Just look at it," he said. "I won't attack you."

"Like I could trust a Spider," said the other, but looked up, anyway, aware that even if Kuroro did attack, he could parry him instantly. It was certainly a very nice moon, the yellow core surrounded by thin, ephemeral blue which, even as he watched, quavered and faded, leaving only the cold white around it.

"They say when the moon becomes pure white, its life is fading," said Kuroro quietly.

"Are you finished making conversation so we can continue, or would you like to extrapolate," Kurapika snarled.

Kuroro passed over him a thin smile and glance. "Well," he said, "the moon is already waning. May as well."

Instantly, he pulled out his book, and before Kurapika could react, pulled out a thin spear, the color of molten gold. "Taiyou no ryu," he whispered, and threw the spear at his opponent.

It transformed to an enormous, firey dragon even as Kurapika watched. The ground, a full two meters below, sizzled as dry tufts of grass instantly ignited, curled, and burned themselves out. He jumped back a further couple of meters as the tree top separating him from Kuroro burst out into hot, hot flame. And still the dragon advanced. He narrowed his eyes at it, attempting to find any weaknesses. For once, he couldn't find so much as a crack in the technique. With a sigh, he did the best thing he could; he closed his eyes and stood completely still.

The dragon passed through him without so much as singeing his hair. He cracked his eyes open into slits, hearing the continuation of fire behind him before it hit the watery halls of the building and fizzled out.

"Oldest trick in the book," he said. "Something that only burns the natural aura of living things."

"And so you cut off your aura flow altogether," Kuroro said, covering his mouth in a thinking gesture. "I would have expected someone far beyond your years of fighting experience to figure that one out."

Kurapika only smirked.

Indeed, he was a gem of a fighter. It pained Kuroro that he had never had the chance to have that kind of power by his side. At the same time, it thrilled him to be fighting such a magnificent speciman. A thrill, unmatched by any other fight he had had before, coiled itself and shot through his spine.


	3. Part 3

Part 3

It seemed that they had reached a stalemate. Yet...he knew, and he knew, that it wasn't the case.

The battle had been decided long ago.

Still they fought, with the intensity of two battle-aged warriors, neither letting up, neither giving in the slightest.

Their fight had brought them into a low, concrete wreck of a valley. Solid pillars and foundational wiring stuck out at odd angles, contorting into weird abstract shapes, as though some destructive artist had chosen the area for his canvas.

Their fighting halted for a minute as the two eyed each other warily, panting ever so slightly, about fifty meters apart. Kuroro still had his book out, ready in an instant; Kurapika's chains were tensely moving back and forth like slender snakes, as if they were corporeal, living things rather than immaterial objects conjured by Nen and sheer will.

Kurapika hadn't even touched the massive number of ways he could use Nen, and Kuroro knew it. Kuroro was enjoying with ferocious pleasure the challenge of the battle, and Kurapika knew it.

The wind had accelerated, whipping hair and clothing of the two fighters. Neither were distracted, but both used the moment to call forth their weapons.

At the same moment that Kurapika used his transformation techniques to cause heavy hail to fall around Kuroro, using the force of the wind for added effect, Kuroro drew out several shuriken from his book and hurled them at him.

Dodging each other's attacks easily, both warily expected a trick of some sort.

Neither expected the other to use exactly the same trick on each other.

The hail pelted Kuroro with stinging blows, each drawing out a little Nen from his body as they swung back around, the sudden change of wind from Kurapika's manipulation casting them suddenly back toward his opponent. Kuroro felt the draining of energy from his body and gritted his teeth as he kept his body erect and strong.

_Damn it...I can't keep this going for much longer if he continues this sort of attack._

Kurapika, meanwhile, having closed the distance between them instantly, did not expect the shuriken to boomarang back. Anticipating it with Gyou at the last minute, he dodged to the side. One buried itself in his left shoulder; another riped the sleeve cleanly from the same arm. His eyes widened as he clutched that arm, a little gasp of pain escaping his Spartan-like reactions.

Kuroro, sensing the shift of attention, sent lightning fast arrows at his opponent.

Too slowly, however fast his movements. The lack of Nen had hindered his speed, and Kurapika did a double backflip, the arrows passing harmlessly beneath him. He flung his Chain Jail toward Kuroro, who also retreated, and here they were, again, about fifty meters apart, both more injured than before.

Kurapika plucked the shuriken from his arm with gritted teeth, never once taking his eyes from his opponent, who also seemed to be recuperating. It was not a deep wound, albeit an extremely painful one, seeing as the weapons had been coated with a severe pain-inducing poison.

Kuroro regarded the bare arm with interest from where he stood. "That scar, where did it come from exactly?"

Kurapika narrowed his blood-red eyes at him. "You know."

He remembered the moment clearly. _She drew the cord tighter, and it cut into his skin cleanly. He gasped in pain. Then she drew it taught; his left arm slipped from the bone and fell with a sickening, gushy thud to the ground. _

_He gritted his teeth, but could not help but fall to one knee. Blinking away the sweat that was running into his eyes, he willed himself to ignore the dizziness that was filling his mind from the loss of blood._

_She regarded him with her cool, killer gaze. "Not yet, Chain User. You are not ready to meet Danchou yet. You will die in an instant, if you can't even touch me." She smiled with thin lips, lightly layered with lipstick. _

_Kurapika grimly stated, "You are already dead, Machi. You haven't noticed yet?"_

_Her eyes widened in horror as the chain, concealed with In just as he had with Ubo, materialized around her body. She stood shock-still as he pushed himself up, walked over to her, albeit somewhat unsteadily, and pointed his little finger at her. "No, not yet," she whispered. "Danchou..."_

_He gazed at her with hate-filled scarlet eyes. "Game over, Machi."_

_After it was finished, he felt himself falling to the ground. Groping around, he grabbed the fallen limb in his right hand and pressed it to the stump. With his thumb, he closed the wound...but the process was incomplete before the blackness filled his eyes._

Thus the scar. A brief, brief flicker of sadness invaded Kuroro's eyes. "What did she say to you, Chain User, before she died? Or do you not remember," he added, mockingly.

Kurapika grinned wanly. He wasn't going to be caught the same way twice. "She said your name," he told him. "Or rather, your title. Really, what kind of a man are you, that you have your own friends call you such a thing?"

"Friends?" Kuroro whispered. "Accomplices, yes. Body guards, yes. But surely you have noticed by now, Chain User, that friends only get in the way. Yours were almost killed; mine were."

Kurapika laughed hollowly. "And yet, even now, you're grieving for them, right?" He took out his cross chain, somewhat dismissively, and healed the wound Kuroro had given him. It was certainly not the most serious wound he had received thus far.


	4. Part 4

Part 4

"What exactly is your purpose, Chain User? Why seek revenge after the Spiders so much?" Kuroro's questions were more taunting than information seeking.

"To make you understand the pain you have caused," the Kurata answered bluntly. The man with the vacant black eyes snickered.

"Death does not affect me," he said. "You should know this by now. What I don't gain from, I don't do. What I benefit from, I don't count the cost. Even if you kill me and all of my comrades, I will not feel a thing."

"Ah, but you will," said Kurapika, softly.

The weapon he had now chosen would have struck fear into the heart of any Hunter, but the Kurata only eyed it warily. Pale moonlight seemed to be sucked in by the eerie, neon-green bubbling katana, as though it were an acidic blackhole. Kurapika flicked his dousing chain at it experimentally, and his eyes widened in surprised as the end of the chain melted where it made contact with the blade.

Not a weapon to be sliced with, he decided. The problem was...how to get rid of it? The only hope would be by the handle, but of course Kuroro had already taken that into consideration.

Hmm. Then what to do? Kurapika, still undisturbed, considered the situation, not as life-threatening, but as a problem as how to recieve the least amount of damage.

As far as he could tell, Kuroro was restricted to the use of one weapon or tool from his black book at a time. Otherwise he would have taken advantage of the time he had used Zetsu before to avoid the sun-dragon.

Furthermore, it was clear that Kuroro was trying to buy time to recuperate from the Nen-draining hail. If not, he would be already attacking. The moon, straight above at this time of night, cast a sheer shadow on his face, making his eyes as black chasms. He could not read the other man's thoughts at all. No matter. There was a way, even without predicting his opponents' intentions.

He had done so before.

As he thought, the two men circled each other warily, like two vultures that, having no carrion to eat, hungrily prey on each other.

"Tell me, Chain-User," Kuroro said, again in a conversational tone, but slightly tinted with tension, "what does it feel like to be on the rising edge of your powers?"

"What does it feel like to be in the decline?" Kurapika retorted. "To know that you have reached the limits of your abilities, that there is no further route?"

"I thought you would be able to answer that one," he smirked.

A grim smile. "I think we both know that I can only get stronger from here," he answered quietly. "And the curtain has fallen for you. Just as it fell on your comrades."

A sudden look of rage, distorted grotesquely by the shadowed moonlight, spread over Kuroro's features and he began running, full speed, toward the Kurata.

_Checkmate successful,_ Kurapika thought, moving to avoid the attack, simultaneously flinging his Chain Jail.

Thrust. Duck. Jab. Clink. Sizzle. Jump. Dash. Thrust. Duck and kick. Block, parry, thrust.

Two backflips. Flung chain. Dodge, close distance. Thrust. And then...

The smell, horrid smell, of rancidly burning flesh.

Kurapika screamed as he hurled himself back to where Kuroro could only stand watching, panting, victorious, the katana already dissipating in his hands. He jumped up, scrambling, onto a higher surface and sunk there, accessing the damage, which he already knew was terrible.

Pain, pain, oh, pain. The feeling of his own side burnt like that...the black burn that spread over the garments near the wound like a fungus or a disease.

He tore off his outer garment, leaving only his tanktop shirt underneath, and looked at the side. He hissed as he saw the redness of the burnt flesh around the gaping wound. He used the cross chain, just enough to close the wound, but not heal it completely. He needed the extra Nen now. He could deal with the smothering pain, just long enough to accomplish his goals.

Beneath him, standing on the concrete ground, he could hear Kuroro's roaring laughter, pitiless, humorless.

Kurapika stood up, also smiling. "Yes, you should laugh," he said. "It is the last chance you will get to do so."

End laughter. Kuroro gritted his teeth, intent on what the younger man was saying. Somehow, even now, he could sense that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it.

"You, you, the head of the Spiders, should have learned from the death of your friends," said Kurapika, jumping down from his position and walking, fearlessly closer. He held out his right hand.

His middle finger was pointed directly at Kuroro, and there was no chain...and then there was...and it was already wrapped around his body.

A grim smile. The smile of the Grim Reaper. And then, just as he had with Uvogin, Kurapika struck the man, using full force of Reinforcement.

It was not the first time he had been hit that way by the Chain User. He could feel exactly how much stronger he had become, physically, since the previous incident at Yorkshin City. He doubled over, ribs cracking under the punch. Then he flew backwards as a side kick hit him directly in the solar plexus.

The world was blinking black stars at him. He wheezed, coughed, tried to catch his breath.

But the Chain User was approaching. The end was near.


	5. Part 5

Part 5

Kurapika approached the fallen man, deaf to his gasps of pain, ignoring the pain that was coursing through his own body. Kuroro attempted to catch his breath as he looked up at the younger man.

It was time to end it.

He gave him a weak, but smirking smile. "Well, Kurapika," using the other man's name for the first time, "are you going to dispatch me with that very handy chain you've got there? The same one you used on Ubo? And Paku? And Nobunaga, Franklin, Feitan, Phinks and Machi, too?"

His eyes had widened at hearing his own name tossed at him, like a piece of dirty laundry, but he coolly held out his hand. It was time to use that chain. For the first time ever.

He let the chain drop from his index finger. It was the color of platinum, and at the end of it was a shining watch.

"You know what this is?" he asked softly.

Kuroro stiffened where he lay on the ground. It couldn't be...

"Hmmph." Kurapika snorted in ironic amusement as he lowered his hand and eyes and began walking around the other man. His soft foot falls were like the drum beats of fate.

"This...this is the hell that you will experience before your death," he explained. He held up the chain again so Kuroro could see it clearly. "Every murder you've ever committed...every piece of suffering and agony that you've caused another person...you will relive it all. Now. In a single instant." He suddenly focused his fiery eyes on the black pupils of his opponent. "And you will understand that which you've closed your eyes to, every minute of your life."

He stooped suddenly and help his face inches from Kuroro's face. Stricken with pain and exhaustion, the Head Spider was helpless to retaliate. Then, with sickening, steady slowness, Kurapika touched that shining watch to Kuroro's forehead.

As if in fast-forward, he witnessed the events of the past. He saw himself there from another person's perspective, hating himself more with each passing memory. Sometimes, an event would stop and pass in normal time, drawing out each agonizing minute.

The entirety of the Kuruta massacre was like that.

His brain exploded with the pain...there was no relief, there was no forgiveness.

He screamed, but there was no air to draw in to make the sound. He writhed, but his body was paralyzed.

Memory...memory...memory...

"Make it stop," he moaned, "oh, God, make it stop..."

Kurapika watched the man shuddering on the ground. Sometimes his back arched to the point where he thought the spine might snap, only to collapse back onto the ground. His limbs twitched, his head tossed from side to side. He looked as though he was being electrified.

_That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever_.

Kurapika witnessed this all without a single thought of mercy. When the string of memories had reached its limit, up to the moment where Kuroro had slashed Kurapika's body with the acid-katana, he took out his Judgment Chain. Kuroro's eyes popped open as he gasped on the ground.

"Please, please," he whispered. Begging for his own death.

"Goodbye," came the monotone reply. And then judgment passed.

Shalnark sighed deeply as he looked up at the murderer of his Danchou. Beside him, Shizuku, Bolonolev, Korotopi and Kalluto warily regarded the young man. "And now you've come to finish the job, I suppose," he said in that carefree voice of his.

The Kuruta's face was expressionless as he replied, "My job is finished." To all of their astonishment, the chains on his right hand vanished, and he held it out to them. "You are free to take your revenge on me, and me alone, if you so choose. Elsewise..."

Shizuku gazed up at him with a look of innocence. "Revenge? Why would we want that?" She had forgotten already.

Korotopi shot her a dirty look, but the look vanished when he gazed back at the man in front of him, offering pain for pain. "Danchou is dead," he said. "The past is in the past."

Bolonolev stood and grasped Kurapika's hand in his own, bandaged hand. "Let the dead remain dead. You have a task for us, correct? You would not have said 'elsewise' unless you did." Kalluto nodded silently in agreement.

Kurapika's eyes widened at the response of the five as they all stood and faced him with no trace of malice. "Yes," he replied, finally. The Spiders were an organism, after all, not a group of friends.

"It is time to reband the Spiders."

Authors Notes: Thank you for reading this fic to the end! I know most everyone likes the Spiders, and so killing off their Danchou was a bit of a bold move on my part...but...I love writing more unusual plotlines (see "Notes on a Kurata", ha) and this one struck me as a good chance to practice writing fighting scenes. Actually, I have to admit the Spiders are probably my favorite part of the whole HXH arc (so sad when they killed off Paku!) and I really enjoy reading all the KuroroxKurapika romances out there, really brilliant work.

In this story, I wanted to continue with Kurapika's mood from the 1st OVA, in that I really wanted to draw out the darker side of his character and explore that. Naturally, that leads to not only killing off the Spiders responsible for the deaths of his tribesmen, but also finding that afterward, he can't stop the bloodlust. Hence the reforming of the Spiders. I kinda toyed with the idea of going off on that route, with Kurapika leading the Spiders, but I'll give it a rest for now and see if more comes up later.

So, finally, thank you for reading, and for the constructive and encouraging reviews! Ja matta ne!


	6. Music Selections

Music Selections:

I always think a story is helped along with some good music. So, here are some choices that I personally liked to go with the chapters:

Chapter 1: Hunter X Hunter soundtrack: Taiyou wa Yoru mo Kagayaku

Chapter 2: Kill Bill soundtrack: Battle without Honour or Humanity

Chapter 3: Ayumi Hamasaki: Don't Leave Me Alone

Chapter 4: Riyu Kosaka: m.o.n.s.t.e.r.

Chapter 5: Dr. Who soundtrack: Doomsday

All can be found on Youtube! Enjoy!


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